Interactive wireless game apparatus and wireless peripheral module

ABSTRACT

An interactive wireless game apparatus includes a game host and a game peripheral apparatus. The game host includes a multimedia processing module and a wireless USB interface module, wherein the multimedia processing module can execute a game program and communicate with the wireless USB interface module by wireless signals that comply with the UWB protocol. The game peripheral apparatus detects motion signals from the player through an image sensor, and utilizes a data processing unit to digitally process the motion signals detected by the image sensor. Finally, the processed motion signals are converted into signals complying with the UWB protocol for outputting to the exterior.

RELATED U.S. APPLICATIONS

Not applicable.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not applicable.

REFERENCE TO MICROFICHE APPENDIX

Not applicable.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an interactive wireless game apparatus and a wireless peripheral module and, more particularly, to an interactive user-friendly game apparatus with an improved baud rate.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Electrical game apparatuses currently provide three-dimensional animation scenes with brilliant images and realistic sound effects. Therefore, players enjoy interactive and real time amusement through their immediate instructions detected by wireless peripheral modules. That is, the players can handle joysticks and buttons to control specified objects shown in images. Moreover, they give full play to their handling ability as the story of the game changes.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a conventional electrical game apparatus 10. The game apparatus 10 includes a game host 12 retrieving and running a game program and a game peripheral apparatus 13 detecting instructions from a player. The game host 12 outputs video signals for executing the game program to a television 11 through a video cable 14. The television 11 displays the images of the game program, and an amplifier 111 simultaneously emits sounds accompanying the images. Furthermore, the game peripheral apparatus 13 immediately sends the analog signals of the instructions to the game host 12 through a signal transmission line 15. However, the signal transmission line 15 not only has a volume, but also limits the distance from the player to the game peripheral apparatus 13 due to its length.

As shown in FIG. 2, an infrared ray receiver 121 and an infrared ray emitter 131 can serve as a communication means between a game host 12′ and a game peripheral apparatus 13′. However, the receiving angle of the receiver 121 for infrared rays is limited to around 30-120 degrees, and the infrared rays are likely to be obstructed by a blocker such as a desk lamp or a decoration so that the wireless transmission is unpleasantly stopped. Furthermore, the transmission rate (115.2-Kbps-16 Mbps) and the maximum transmission length (1-5 meters) of the infrared rays are also rather restricted; hence the manipulation for the game is seriously affected by aforesaid limitations.

Most of current interactive wireless game apparatuses utilize non-contact pointers to enhance the manipulation of specified objects or characters shown in the images of the game. The pointers direct the motion of objects or characters through infrared rays. Accordingly, a game peripheral apparatus equipped with a motion tracking sensor is placed near a monitor displaying the images. When the player waves the pointer, the game peripheral apparatus can capture a plurality of images per second. That is, the motion tracking sensor senses sequential spots of the moving infrared ray. Therefore, the game peripheral apparatus compares the coordinates of the spots in each of the images with each other to instruct the game host to change the position of the cursor or the object that displays on the screen of the television. Such a conventional game peripheral apparatus and game host cannot achieve the communication of considerable data between them. That is, the transmission of the infrared ray practically cannot satisfy the requirement of the very high baud rate. Moreover, the manipulation challenges this game peripheral apparatus.

As a result, the conventional game peripheral apparatus and game host cannot meet the requirement of the player for handy control. Furthermore, the transmission rate of the instructions is slow so that the continuous instructions of movement cannot be immediately and speedily transmitted. Therefore, the manipulation and application of conventional game apparatuses have difficulty keeping pace with the improvement of video games.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An objective of the present invention is to provide an interactive wireless game apparatus comprising a game host and at least one game peripheral apparatus. Communication between the game host and the game peripheral apparatus is carried out with wireless signals that comply with Ultra WideBand (UWB) protocol.

Another objective of the present invention is to provide an interactive wireless game apparatus comprising a game host equipped with a wireless USB (Universal Series Bus) interface module. The wireless USB interface module can be internally embedded in or externally connected to the game host, and is compatible with the protocol of IEEE 802.15.3 and USB. The game host communicates with at least one wireless peripheral apparatus by wireless signals.

Another objective of the present invention is to provide an interactive wireless game apparatus and a wireless peripheral module for a player to control the progress of a game remotely. The game apparatus comprises a game host and a game peripheral apparatus. The game host includes a multimedia processing module and a wireless USB interface module, wherein the multimedia processing module can execute a game program and communicate with the wireless USB interface module by wireless signals complying with the UWB protocol. The game peripheral apparatus detects motion signals from the player through an image sensor, and utilizes a data processing unit to digitally process the motion signals detected by the image sensor. Finally, the processed motion signals are converted into signals complying with the UWB protocol for outputting to the exterior.

The wireless USB interface module is internally embedded in or externally connected to the game host, and is compatible with the protocol of IEEE 802.15.3 and USB.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be described according to the appended drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an illustration of a conventional electrical game apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of another illustration of a conventional electrical game apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a graph illustration of the relationship between working frequency and power for a UWB system in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a diagram of an interactive wireless game apparatus in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of a diagram of an interactive wireless game apparatus in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

A UWB system uses a frequency band with an extreme wide bandwidth for wireless communication through pulse signal transmission technology. Instead of continuous sine waves, such a system speedily generates pulse signals through a time modulation method so that a very high data flow rate is carried on the extreme wide band.

As shown in FIG. 3, a UWB system 32 has the ratio of its bandwidth to its central frequency larger than 25%. The American Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has approved regulations releasing a band between 3.1-10.6 GHz for the free use of the UWB system. For example, the central frequency of UWB signals is at 4 GHz, and its corresponding bandwidth is larger than 1 GHz. Because each of the pulse signals has a very short period in a time domain, a very wide bandwidth occurs on a frequency domain. Excluding the pulse signals spread in a single band, they can also be spread in a plurality of bands through a multi-band processing. That is, the whole bandwidth of the UWB is divided into a plurality of narrow bands so that the narrow bands are simultaneously distributed on the spectrum of the UWB system.

Shannon proposes that the maximal channel capacity formula is in the form of:

Transmission Rate=Utilized Bandwidth×log₂(S/N);

where S is signal power and N is noise power.

The transmission rate is linearly increased depending on the increase of the utilized bandwidth. Therefore, the UWB system has a very high transmission rate of 480 Mbps. It is superior to the transmission rate of an infrared communication or Bluetooth communication with a narrow band (721 kbps-1 Mbps).

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an interactive wireless game apparatus in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention. An interactive wireless game apparatus 44 comprises a wireless USB interface module 43, a game host 42 and a game peripheral apparatus 41. A wireless peripheral module 40 comprises the wireless USB interface module 43 and the game peripheral apparatus 41. Furthermore, the wireless USB interface module 43 is detachable from the game host 42. The game host 42 utilizes a multimedia processing module or a program to execute game software, and has interactive actions with a player who manipulates the game peripheral apparatus 41 through the wireless USB interface module 43.

Furthermore, the wireless USB interface module 43 is a plug-in for a personal computer 42′ to execute the play program. The game peripheral apparatus 41 employs an image sensor 411 to capture specified motion signals or instruction image signals such as trajectory images tracking the movement of a light spot generator device held by the player. An image preprocessing unit 412 can modulate and modify the images captured by the image sensor 411. For example, the luminance and chroma of the images are altered, or a specified image adjustment result is achieved by performing image data calculation and image compression.

The image sensor 411 and image preprocessing unit 412 can be integrated into an IC to form a system on chip (SOC). A data processing unit 413 converts the data after image processing into compressed signals with different formats. That is, the image data are converted into signals that comply with the protocol of the UWB system. The motion signals detected by the image sensor 411 are digitalized and transmitted to a transmitter/receiver unit 414. Because the transmitter/receiver unit 414 is compatible with the aforesaid UWB system, it can utilize an ultra wide band to transmit a very large data flow. In comparison with conventional systems, the present invention has advantages of high transmission rate and wireless convenience. Furthermore, a universal asynchronous receiver transmitter (UART) interface (not shown) is placed between the image preprocessing unit 412 and data processing unit 413.

The transmitter/receiver unit 414 wirelessly communicates with the transmitter/receiver unit 433 of the wireless USB interface module 43 through series signals, and wireless signals are received and emitted by antennas 415 and 434. The wireless USB interface module 43 is compatible with the protocol of the IEEE802.15.3 and USB so that it can communicate with at least one game peripheral apparatus 41 through transmitting and receiving wireless signals. In some cases, it can simultaneously communicate with up to 127 sets of the game peripheral apparatuses 41 by utilizing a working frequency band ranging from 3.1 GHz-10.6 GHz. To prevent interference with the band at 5 GHz which is authorized to IEEE 802.11a, the wireless USB interface module 43 reduces the emitting power to 75 nW/MHz. Giving an example of the application of IEEE802.15.3a, the transmission rate is 480 Mbps at most. In this case, the emitting power is adjusted to 0.2 mW to prevent interference with the utilized bands, and the corresponding effective transmission distance is ten meters or more.

The wireless USB interface module 43 applies multiband orthogonal frequency division multiplexing technique to modulate signals, and the band ranging from 3.1 GHz to 10.6 GHz is divided into 13 sub-bands of which each has a bandwidth of 528 MHz. Each sub-band employs 128 sub-carriers. Furthermore, 100 of the sub-carriers are specially modulated by quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) technique for data transmission. The data transmission rate for the wireless USB interface module 43 is adjustable; for example 55 Mbps, 80 Mps, 110 Mbps, 200 Mbps, 320 Mbps and 480 Mbps. In addition, wireless USB (WUSB) technique proposed by Intel on 2005 is also applicable to the wireless USB interface module 43 so that it can similarly transmit and receive wireless signals compatible with the USB protocol.

The wireless USB interface module 43 has a USB control unit 431 bidirectionally communicating with either the game host 42 or the personal computer 42′, and further has a data conversion unit 432 to convert UWB signals to USB signals and convert USB signals to UWB signals.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of an interactive wireless game apparatus in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention. In contrast with FIG. 4, the wireless USB interface module 43 is integrated into a game host 52. The game host 52 comprises a multimedia processing module 521 executing the game program. The wireless USB interface module 43 transmits the received wireless signals to the multimedia processing module 521 for processing. The game host 52 and the game peripheral apparatus 41 make up an interactive wireless game apparatus 50.

The aforementioned descriptions of the present invention are intended to be illustrative only. Numerous alternative methods may be devised by persons skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the following claims. 

1. An interactive wireless game apparatus for at least one player to remotely control a game, the game apparatus comprising: at least one game peripheral apparatus comprising: an image sensor detecting a motion signal from the player; a data processing unit digitally processing said motion signal detected by said image sensor and converting said motion signal into a signal that complies with UWB (Ultra WideBand) protocol; and a first transmitter/receiver unit coupled to said data processing unit to receive the signal outputted from the data processing unit, transmitting and receiving a wireless signal complying with UWB protocol; and a game host comprising: a multimedia processing module executing a game program; and a wireless USB interface module communicating with said first transmitter/receiver unit through the wireless signal complying with UWB protocol and communicating with said multimedia processing module according to USB protocol.
 2. The interactive wireless game apparatus of claim 1, wherein said wireless USB interface module comprises: a second transmitter/receiver unit communicating with said first transmitter/receiver unit by the wireless signal complying with UWB protocol; a USB control unit communicating with said multimedia processing module by a series signal that complies with USB protocol according to USB protocol; and a data conversion unit coupled to said second transmitter/receiver unit and the USB control unit, performing bidirectionally conversion between the wireless signal complying with UWB protocol and the series signal complying with USB protocol.
 3. The interactive wireless game apparatus of claim 1, wherein said game peripheral apparatus further comprises: an image preprocessing unit to modulate, modify or compress the motion signal.
 4. The interactive wireless game apparatus of claim 3, wherein the image sensor and image preprocessing unit are integrated into an IC to form a system on chip.
 5. The interactive wireless game apparatus of claim 1, wherein the wireless USB interface module is compatible with IEEE802.15.3 and USB protocol.
 6. The interactive wireless game apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first transmitter/receiver unit is compatible with IEEE802.15.3 protocol.
 7. The interactive wireless game apparatus of claim 2, wherein the second transmitter/receiver unit is compatible with IEEE802.15.3 protocol.
 8. The interactive wireless game apparatus of claim 1, wherein the wireless USB interface module utilizes multiband orthogonal frequency division multiplexing technique to perform signal modulation.
 9. The interactive wireless game apparatus of claim 1, wherein the wireless USB interface module divides a band ranging from 3.1 GHz to 10.6 GHz into 13 sub-bands of which each has a bandwidth of 528 MHz, each of the sub-bands employs 128 sub-carriers, and 100 of the sub-carriers are modulated by quadrature phase shift keying technique for data transmission.
 10. The interactive wireless game apparatus of claim 1, wherein the wireless USB interface module complies with USB protocol.
 11. The interactive wireless game apparatus of claim 1, wherein the wireless USB interface module is detachable from the game host.
 12. A wireless peripheral apparatus for at least one player to remotely control a game of a game host, the game apparatus comprising: at least one game peripheral apparatus comprising: an image sensor detecting a motion signal from the player; a data processing unit digitally processing said motion signal detected by said image sensor and converting said motion signal into a signal that complies with UWB protocol; and a first transmitter/receiver unit coupled to said data processing unit to receive the signal outputted from the data processing unit, transmitting and receiving a wireless signal complying with UWB protocol; and a wireless USB interface module communicating with said first transmitter/receiver unit by the wireless signal complying with UWB protocol and communicating with said multimedia processing module according to USB protocol.
 13. The wireless peripheral apparatus of claim 12, wherein the wireless USB interface module comprises: a second transmitter/receiver unit communicating with said first transmitter/receiver unit by the wireless signal that complies with UWB protocol; a USB control unit communicating with the game host by a series signal that complies with USB protocol according to USB protocol; and a data conversion unit coupled to said second transmitter/receiver unit and the USB control unit, performing bidirectionally conversion between the wireless signal that complies with UWB protocol and the series signal that complies with USB protocol.
 14. The wireless peripheral apparatus of claim 12, wherein the game peripheral apparatus comprises: an image pre-processing unit to modulate, modify or compress the motion signal.
 15. The wireless peripheral apparatus of claim 14, wherein the image sensor and image preprocessing unit are integrated into an IC to form a system on chip.
 16. The wireless peripheral apparatus of claim 12, wherein the wireless USB interface module is compatible with IEEE802.15.3 and USB protocol.
 17. The wireless peripheral apparatus of claim 12, wherein the first transmitter/receiver unit is compatible with IEEE802.15.3 protocol.
 18. The wireless peripheral apparatus of claim 13, wherein the second transmitter/receiver unit is compatible with IEEE802.15.3 protocol.
 19. The wireless peripheral apparatus of claim 12, wherein the wireless USB interface module utilizes multiband orthogonal frequency division multiplexing technique to perform signal modulation.
 20. The wireless peripheral apparatus of claim 12, wherein the wireless USB interface module divides a band ranging from 3.1 GHz to 10.6 GHz into 13 sub-bands of which each has a bandwidth of 528 MHz, each of the sub-bands employs 128 sub-carriers, and 100 of the sub-carriers are modulated by quadrature phase shift keying technique for data transmission.
 21. The wireless peripheral apparatus of claim 12, wherein the wireless USB interface module complies with USB protocol. 